How to stop tyrannical imperial presidency (of both parties)
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Aug. 5, 2025
In spite of the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers between
Congress and several States, and the Tenth Amendment guarantee of
state sovereignty, the federal government wields extraordinary
power over the conduct and policies of state and local governments.
The progressives are beginning to discover this in the Trump
presidency.
Many people do not realize the pervasive encroachment of federal
politics into their communities. Their neighborhood schools,
community non-profits, town libraries, road maintenance crews, and
in some cases, even faith-based charities are controlled by the
White House and the whims of distant D.C. politicians.
This tyrannical control is made possible through a huge legal
loophole: federal grantmaking authority.
The president of the United States, members of Congress, cabinet
secretaries and other political appointees, and bureaucrats
exercise unconstitutional control over local and state affairs by
promulgating executive orders and administrative regulations that
tie federal funding of state and local grantees (and their
subrecipients, which could include non-profit organizations) to a
set of conditions.
Perhaps two of the best-known historical examples of this are the
55-miles-per-hour speed limits on freeways (which have since been
repealed) and the legal drinking age at 21. Both of these were
conditions for federal highway grants, and all states and
territories were forced to change their laws and regulations so as
not to forfeit critical and necessary funding.
During a Democratic presidency, such conditions could include
various DEI and anti-discrimination requirements, or environmental
and sustainability requirements.
Now, with a Republican in power, federal grants are contingent on
the "anti-DEI" and "anti-gender ideology" compliance, religious
liberty requirements, and grantees' denial of service to "illegal
aliens" and full cooperation with the mass deportation program.
Regardless of which party controls the White House, such
requirements encroach and abridge the sovereign rights of the
states and the democratic will of the people to control their local
affairs in keeping with their specific local conditions and
communal values.
To stop this cycle of tyranny, it is incumbent upon Congress to
remove this tool of politicization entirely. To this end, federal
grant programs and congressional appropriations for specific
projects should be replaced with a single, no-strings-attached
block grant to states based on population, area size, and/or state
GDP. In other words, each year, every state and territory receives
a lump sum of money that is its share of the federal revenue (minus
congressionally appropriated expenditure for constitutionally
required federal government functions such as defense and
diplomacy) without any precondition. Then let the state
legislatures decide what to do with it, based on their needs and
the will of the people there.
Eventually, this could go one step further and eliminate federal
direct taxation of U.S. persons, shifting the responsibilities of
raising revenue to several states. Congress could then fund
constitutional roles of the federal government from tariffs,
various excise taxes, and maybe assessments on a percentage of
state revenues.
Devolution and decentralization, based on the ideas of subsidiarity
and local control, can go a long way to solve the problem of
chronically acrimonious and polarized American politics. Bring the
power back to where it is accessible to the everyday people.
